Keke Palmer Laments Rejection Of Affirmative Action By The Supreme Court

Keke Palmer has reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent clampdown on affirmative action.

The "Akeelah and the Bee" shared her witty — but solemn — opinion about the Court's resolution to declare race-based decisions in college application procedures unconstitutional in a video posted to social media. Regarding higher education, affirmative action usually addresses admissions policies to increase the number of minority students on campus, including African-Americans and Hispanics.

Although several colleges are tight-lipped about their admissions processes, considering a prospective applicant's race is a significant factor amongst selective schools that reject most applicants. 

According to Reuters, a survey conducted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling in 2019 detailed that race impacted a "considerable" or "moderate" percentage of a quarter of colleges' decisions on admissions applications, while over half of schools declared that their decisions were not influenced by race.

With the Supreme Court's majority ruling the allowance of race influencing admissions decisions as unconstitutional, several people have aired their concerns. One person who promptly reacted to the court's judgment which effectively terminated the decades-long precedent that previously allowed United States colleges to use such programs to increase the diversity on campus was Palmer.

The mom-of-one uploaded a minutes-long video that showed her sitting in a car, wearing a gray hoodie and glasses with an overlay reading, "WHAT US GOING ON!?!? As a millennial I've had ENOUGH."

Starting with a recollection of her conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris about how the continuous tragedies that African-Americans have faced would cause them not to "trust in the government anymore."

"People want us to be involved and want us to be engaged, and we would like to, but it's hard to be involved and engaged when there's so much distrust. Like, how are y'all overturning Roe v. Wade? How are y'all overturning affirmative action? At this point, are we about to be segregated again?" the 29-year-old stated half-jokingly.

Palmer then claimed it was "getting to the point where nothing is safe," and the seeming fight against Blacks made it "difficult to get anything done." "At this point, do I need to run up on them? Do I need to run up into the building? Because none of this is working," she yelled in conclusion.

The actress' points evidently affected her fans, as one typed in the comments, "? THIS!!! Millennials done seen it all chile," and another wrote, "No dead ass ... millennials don't get enough credit. I mean I was sitting in 1st grade watching an airplane hit the World Trade Center on live tv... fast forward to today....?."

"Our Ancestors did the WORK. Now we gotta dig in and DO IT AGAIN. Here we go!," a third person exclaimed, as another added," Yeah maybe it's our turn to storm the capital.. but I ain't climbing over no walls. Lol."

Meanwhile, a fifth netizen commented, "THANK YOU for being one of the FEW celebrities not afraid to speak on these issues!!" and a sixth stated, "we need to overturn these lifetime appointments…"

Long before Palmer's Instagram rant, her fellow Hollywood colleague had slammed the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 – a landmark decision that previously determined that The U.S. Constitution naturally protected a pregnant woman's freedom to abortion. 

Per The Blast, "Empire" star Taraji P. Henson used the opportunity of opening last year's BET Awards ceremony to make a profound speech. She began by praising her colleagues for their representation of "Black excellence" before singling out rapper Lizzo for giving a phenomenal performance of "About D*mn Time" and pledging to donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood amid SCOTUS' June 24, 2022, decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

The "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" star then proceeded to admonish her peers who had yet to take a stand, saying, "It's about time we talk about the fact that guns have more rights than a woman. It's a sad day in America. A weapon that can take lives has more rights than a woman that can give life if she wants to."

Others who have spoken out against the reversal are former First Lady Michelle Obama, Duchess Meghan, Rita Moreno, Jodie Sweetin, and Laura Prepon.